E-Books, The New Kid on Steroids

Please welcome guest blogger Dara Edmondson

As our faltering economy chugs on, someone forgot to tell a tiny segment of the economy that things were bad. The e-book market continues to flourish. This growth is fueled mostly by the romance and erotic romance market.

The most recent RWA report finds that in 2008, as the U. S. and much of the world slipped into recession, a whole bunch of people bought their books electronically, more than ever before. 5.4% of respondents read an e-book, a 68.4% increase over 2007. And the Association of American Publishers found the numbers through May of 2009 even more impressive. While printed book sales were down 4% in that time, e-book sales jumped a whopping 167%. How many industries had that kind of Herculean jump in sales? Overall, book sales and even romance book sales were down slightly.

Another new development is the respect factor. USA Today’s Best-Selling Books list decided to include Kindle e-book sales in its bestseller calculations. All the biggest traditional publishers have now launched digital publishing divisions, hoping to tap into this wildly successful segment of the book sales pie.

Yet overall, e-book sales remain a small portion of the number of books sold. But with the explosive growth of this industry, I think I am exactly where I need to be. I currently write for three of the top erotic romance e-publishers – Ellora’s Cave, Loose Id and Red Sage.

For lots of practical information on how to break into the e-book market, please check out my online class, The Ins and Outs of E-Publishing, here at FF&P from March 29 – April 2.

Dara Edmondson began making up stories as soon as she could speak.  She started working on her first novel in college - a mystery.  But she soon realized the collegiate life involved way
more than books, so she spent the rest of her time there partying.

When the writing bug bit her again years later, she tried her hand at many different fiction genres from Young Adult to comedy to erotic romance.  She has authored books for several publishers, most recently under the pen name Wynter Daniels. She currently writes erotic romance for Ellora’s Cave (Tropic of Trouble), Loose Id (Playing with Barbie) and Red Sage (Can’t Stand the Heat). Older books are under her own name for such publishers as Red Sage (Captured) and The Wild Rose Press (The Kitten Club, Compromising Positions and Falling Star).

Married with two nearly grown children and two spoiled cats, she writes full time.  She sincerely hopes her stories are as much fun for you to read as they were for her to write.  You can find her on the web at: www.WynterDaniels.com, and at www.NaughtyAuthorChicks.Blogspot.com and on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace as DaraEdmondson.